For 3 days, we were in Ranchi for the Wiki Advanced Training 2k18 at Le Lac Sarovar Hotel. This was the last day of our Training, where we had to learn some and had to leave that place too. As we had decided yesterday to start at 8.30 am but started around 9.00 am. The previous night we slept after 3.30 am, that's why we took this extra 30 minutes to start. 

The day 3 started with the coffee, and then had our breakfast. At the breakfast table, all were discussing some things. 

After the Breakfast, Muzzamil sir had left for Airport. But before that, we took the group photo in front of the hotel entrance. In that group photo Tanveer da, Mallikarjuna, and Sailesh were missing since Tanveer had left and they were getting ready. 

Then our sessions started with the introduction by Tito da since Tanveer da wasn't there to start the day. The first presentation of the day was given by Satdeep and Krishna about Reliable sources which we should use for the Wikipedia Articles. 

Then we had discussed with each other and for some specific topic, we choose the reliable references as well as some exceptions. Then we did a presentation for that. So, all the communities could take those as their references. In this work, we had our tea.

After the community presentation, we had shared our future prediction for our community, for the articles and as per discussion, we should write 10 good articles in near future. Then the participants had shared their experiences for this event and then the organizer team thanked us as per their style.

After this, we had celebrated Paligiri Sir's B'day there. He cut the Cake and then we had our lunch quickly. We had to catch our return flight.

After lunch, Bangalore and Delhi people left the hotel. I joined Manav, Rupika & Jay Prakash for the airport. We boarded as per the time and had some interesting conversations there too. After that our Bangalore flight left at 4.20 and they were there for a little more time. 

At the time of our take up, it was raining there. After the take-up, the sky was clear, and in that 2.20-hour journey, I slept around 1 hour. Then we landed in Bangalore, from where Jinoy had to catch his next flight to Kochi, and Loganathn sir had to catch his train for his place. I and Mallikarjuna had taken the KIA-8 bus to reach our places. Vikas had taken another bus for his place. Finally, I reached my room at around 8.30 pm.

This was all about our Day 3 at Wiki Advanced Training. You could follow this Label for all the blogs related to this event. 

P.S.: Due to some health issues, I couldn't write this blog on 1st or 2nd of July. 

It was day 2 of our Wiki Advanced Training at Le Lac Sarovar Hotel in Ranchi. Yesterday, our sessions started at 10.00 am, we couldn't cover all the allotted topics of yesterday, so today we had to start at 8.30 am.

As per the plan we all woke up early and after refreshment, I had finished the Wikipedia and Wikisource article of the day and we four went for breakfast together. And as usual, at the breakfast table, we had started some of our conversations, but to avoid being late, we had kept that short.

As per the time, we couldn't start exactly at 8.30 but started just before 9.00 am. First Tito da had explained a very good thing, i.e. about Google Advanced Search which would help at the time of citation of any articles. Yes, he had explained this to me at our last meeting at the CIS-A2K office, when I asked him to help me with the prework for this event.

After that, Satdeep and Rupika had shared some interesting things about edit-a-thons and contests running to create and improve articles in various communities, where they had added about Punjab edit-a-thons, Project Tiger, etc. Previously I didn't have many ideas about edit-a-thons, but now-a-days, I'm also participating in edit-a-thons, that's why I found this interesting. And all the community members should show their interests for a successful edit-a-thon.

Tanveer da has some work, that's why he had left today only, but before that, he had an important session, which would help a community for improving their quality content. He had explained how we could engage others for our community like Collaboration, Request one article, Adopt an article, 1Lib1Ref, etc. 

After that, we had shared or you can call it exchanged some of the ideas with others. Since I'm only one from the Odia community, I had joined with Bengali, Gujarati, and Sanskrit community and we made the cross-community group and shared our ideas to reach more readers.

After this, we took 40 minutes brake for lunch, then AddisWang had presented about Wikipedia Asian Month over a voice conference call, which was co-ordinated by Sailesh and Rupika. Then Krishna and Manav had shared about Good Articles and Featured Articles.

Then Tito and Satdeep had presented about Neutral Point of view, under which we had discussed about some articles. Then we had shared some of our community rules about this. After that, we took a 10 minutes tea break.

After the tea break, Jay Prakash had given a presentation about Media Wiki, and in that session, he had explained about Mediawiki extensions. This was the last session of the day and had finished around 6.15 pm. After that, we had our dinner at 8.00.

My day 1 started early with some morning tea. Yesterday we slept early so, woke up early and everything started early. After tea, I had written the Wikipedia article for the WikiYear and edit the Wikisource page for the day.

And we have this beautiful view outside of our room, where you could see people taking bath, washing clothes, and some of their goods. 

Around 8.30 I went for breakfast, After breakfast, we had to start our sessions from 10.00 am.

On Plate: Poori, Bhaji, Suji Upma, Idli, Coconut Chatni, Boiled Egg, Fish Cutlet, Tent Potato & Baby Corn.

On the Plate: Sprout Sala, Pastry & Fruits.

Can Mango Juice

We start our session with the introduction of the event by Tito da and Tanveer da. Then Manav man and Tito had asked us to note down our fields of interest and the sources from which we are taking our references for our articles. Then we have shared those with everyone so we could get some more know more about the referral sources.

After that Krisha and had started the presentation about General Structure & Layout of articles, which is really necessary for a good article. Then we took a tea break for 15 to 20 minutes. There was a sweet table where sweets from different places placed together. Since I came from Bangalore, I didn't bring sweets that would define my region. 

Sweet Table having sweets from various regions.

After this tea break, the presentation continued. Then, we had taken five of our articles from our own community and we had chosen 5 recent articles in Odia and point out the problems with them. 

Then we went for lunch at the same place where we had our breakfast in the morning. Since we had to cover more topics during that, we took the 30 minutes lunch brake.

Tomato Dhaniya Sorba

On Plate: Jeera Rice, Lelac Dal, Sahi Paneer, Bhindi do pyaja, Green Salad, Chicken Kasa, Jalebi & Papad.

After that, again Krishna had started another presentation about The Wikipedia Library, which was sent to us by e-mail as our prework. So, we had gone through some basics before and he had explained some more about this. There was a conference call of Krishna, Aron Vasanth, and Felix Nartey for this session, where Aron and Felix had explained some things about The Wikipedia Library. Before the conference call, we took another quick tea break.

After the call, we had finished our sessions for the day at around 6.15 pm and then there was a condolence meeting for Gangadhar Bhadani sir who passed away this February. He had joined Wikipedia in March 2005 and in September 2005, he became the editor for English Wikipedia and continued his work till last. He was an inspiration to lots of Wikimedians in India. His wife and daughters had also joined us. 

After this, the CIS-A2K team had felicitated to Sendhamil Kodhai sir from Tamil and Palagiri sir from Telugu wiki for their contribution to Wikipedia in various fields.

Sendhamil Kodhai Sir

Palagiri Sir

After this meeting, we had our lunch at that same place. And at the time of Lunch, we had some good conversations. 

Veg Lemon Coriander Soup

On the Plate: Green Salad (not visible), Raita, Veg Biriyani, Rajma Rasedar, Indian Bread, Aloo Pyaz ka Khade Masala, Palak Paneer, Fish Lipta Masala, Chicken & Papad

And these are all about for Day 1. We had to start the sessions for Day 2 at 8.30 am. 

Actually, this is the day when we came to Ranchi for the Wiki Advanced Training. But previously, I've shared about these things when I met Tito da then Mallikarjuna. We had to reach at the event place by today so we could start our session easily from tomorrow. That's why we arrived today and since tomorrow is Day 1, we call this Day 0 or the Icebreaking moment among all. 

In December when I went home from Kempagowda airport, it took 2 hours and 45 minutes to reach Hebbal from Marathahalli, so today, I don't want to take a risk. I slept at 10.00 pm and actually started sleeping after 11.30 pm. So easily I woke up early and took the KIAS-8 bus from Innovative Multiplex Marathahalli at 6.30 am and reached the airport by 7.45 am. There I met two Tamil Wikimedians K. Murty and Loganathan and wait to collect our boarding passes.

At that time, I've finished some of my works which I had to finish in the morning. Then we collected the boarding passes from the counter and met Ulo. Sendhamil Kodhai, another Tamil Wikimedian inside. After some time, Mallikarjuna and Vikas also joined us.

Finally, we reached at Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi on time and then took Ola to reach our hotel. After reaching the hotel, we took our room keys, then went for lunch. We had our lunch at around 3.20 pm and as usual, I forgot to capture before eating. But I took this photo of Icecream and hot Gulab Jamun. I've never eaten hot sweets before. Usually, I prefer sweets in cold form, but this was a little bit different.

Yes, I forgot to mention about the reunion from TTT 2k18. There was Dr. Manavpreet Kaur, Satdeep Gill, Rupika Sharma, Ajay, whom I knew before since TTT 2018. After lunch, I had discussed a little bit with Manav mam and she explained about The Wikipedia Library. I hadn't covered that document attached to the mail, so she helped me with that. 

Then we had to reach the meeting room by 6.15 pm, but we arrived there at 6.35 after everyone. Then I joined the Group 1 with Mallikarjuna, Rupika, Muzammil Sir & Mahesh. There we introduced to each other and shared some fun facts, answered some funniest questions.

After this meeting, we had our lunch. And yes, this time I've captured the dinner plates except for chicken and Roti.

During the dinner, we had talked with each other and returned to our room early, since everyone needs some rest and some fresh energy for tomorrow. That's all for Day 0. Yes, we had Tito da, Tanveer da, Sailesh, and Krishan Chaitanya from the organizing team. I've some good relationships with these people, so I mention then last.

Hello beautiful people, here is the 2nd blog of Wiki Advanced Training, when I met Mallikarjuna at his office.

I have to go to Ranchi from Kempagouda International Airport, Bangalore along with two other Kannada Wikimedians Mallikarjuna and Bikash Hegde. Today, I had some work at Kartik Nagar, so I went there with Nikas's Cycle. 

When I was there, I got a call from Mallikarjuna, but at that moment, I couldn't take that call. After finishing my work, I called back to him and he asked about my location so we could plan for our journey easily. And when he told me about his office location, I got surprised, because, I was there only at that moment. 

So, I went to his office, then met his boss Praveen too. It was a pleasure meeting with his boss and their marketing manager Sanjeeb. At his office, we have discussed some other things also. Previously I had met Mallikarjana on 27th May at the CIS-A2K office, when I was there for the Project Tiger offline edit-a-thon.

Today, we have discussed our route, Timing, etc for the Airport, about prework. Finally, we had decided to meet Vikas and him at the Airport. And returned back to my room. It wasn't a plan to meet him, so I hadn't taken my camera with me and missed the chance to capture these.

Hello everyone, here I'm starting the series of blogs for Wiki Advance Training which would start officially from 29th July at Ranchi. But we have to reach by 28th evening and in the evening, the meeting would be the introduction, prework, etc. 

So, we received an e-mail from Krishna Chaitanya Velaga about the prework. The prework was about understanding about "Copyrights and Free Licences", "Neutral Point of View" and "The Wikipedia Library".

Since those works weren't easy for me and I needed a good understanding of everything, I met Tito da Today at the CIS-A2K office, Bangalore. Since it's Saturday, the office was closed and he came for me only.

After that, we had a quality time to discuss about the prework, tasks, etc. Then we were about to leave, but it started raining heavily. He also had to go to Hyderabad through the bus, so we came to Marathahalli by auto. After dinner, the rain started again and the bus also came 15 minutes late. He was waiting for the bus in the rain. When he called to the bus conductor, he replied in Telugu or Kannada, we couldn't understand. Then, after 2 calls, he answered in Hindi.

In that heavy rain, finally the bus came to us, and he boarded the bus at 9.15 PM. During the waiting, the rain stopped and I came to my room. At the time of dinner, we had only 40 minutes so we couldn't get the chance to capture a photo.

This is all about today, keep in touch for further updates.